The Mission
by Testament
Summary: A story about an anonymous raven's fight for survival.


The Mission  
  


By: Testament   
  


Disclaimers: I don't own anything. Period.  
  


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The raven's eyes stung harshly as sweat and blood trickled from his brow. Blinking rapidly to dispel the tears, his gaze swung methodically across the barren field, searching patiently for his opponent. Patience was indeed a virtue as he had just recently learned. Rushing out with guns blazing and missiles on the ready proved stupid, and more importantly near fatal, as it had earned him nothing but a splitting migraine, the result of smashing his head into and through a sub monitor on his radar. And just how did he smash his head? The raven's teeth ground together in anger as he remembered how his opponent had laughed, just before launching several dozen missiles at his AC. Sparks flickered in the dim cockpit, another result of the devastating missile barrage. His AC had been heavily damaged, losing 70 percent armor and 65 percent of it's main motor functions. Now he lay braced against a crumbling wall, a remnant from some long lost settlement. Once again the raven muttered an angry curse. His sponsor had said it would be a piece of cake, easy money. After all, two Armored Cores against a MT? Even if it was a prototype, it would stand no chance against the combined might of Goliath and his own precious AC, Sinner. That conversation had taken place little over a hour ago. Now, thirty minutes into the mission, the remains of his partner's AC lay strewn about the playing field, it's bullet riddled husk still smoking. 

No matter, the antagonized raven mumbled to himself, he would complete this mission, just like he had every other one. His concentration was abruptly broken as a minute sound was picked up, magnified a hundred fold by the external microphones attached to his AC's head unit. Tapping multiple commands into his interface, the raven transferred 80 percent of his energy cells into his rifle's ammo gauge. Painfully lifting the rifle, it's actions made jerky and slow by the sudden cut in power, the AC Sinner swung the barrel around in a 180 degree arc, it's remaining scanners searching for the elusive source of the previous noise. The raven almost jumped out of his seat as warning klaxons blared in the cockpit, signaling the approach of missiles. Slamming a hand on the thruster controls, he forced his damaged AC to burst up into the air, narrowly avoiding the incoming projectiles. A harsh expletive shattered the sullen quiet that followed the unexpected attack, the raven's lips continued to stream forth a amazingly long string of curses as he read the damage reports scrolling across his blinking screen. The recent maneuver he had just pulled had blown the radiator out, as evidenced by the quickly rising temperatures. Wiping sweat from his furrowed brow, he told the A.I. of his mech to eject the useless radiator. A second later, a stream of nitroclycerine poured out of a panel in the AC's core. Glancing around quickly, the disgruntled raven noted that the lethal MT had disappeared, either through the skill of it's pilot or the experimental stealth coating it harbored. Either way, he knew he had to end this mission fast. Otherwise, even Sinner, with all it's multiple armors and safeguards would succumb to the harsh battle. Brushing pieces of broken glass away from the main view screen, he activated the AC's emergency shields. A comforting green haze glowed around the damaged machine, a signal that all shields were online. Turning as swiftly as his mech would allow, the raven activated missile pods A through C. A second later, fumes of smoke billowed around his AC as the hail of projectiles streamed toward the sky. The missiles suddenly turned in mid flight, the targeting systems kicking in, homing in on the enemy's electronic signature. A couple hundred meters away, answering missiles suddenly flared as the MT's interception systems came online. A clean third of the raven's missiles exploded harmlessly in midair, the rest slammed into and around the MT. Not waiting for the smoke to clear, the raven lifted his assault rifle in the general direction of the recently discovered MT and squeezed the trigger. He smiled humorlessly as a veritable stream of energy cut through the smoke and impacted against the enemy. Sparks flew as armor and circuits fused together, a byproduct of the heat generated by the laser fire. 

The raven's smile faded though as the remaining smoke cleared. The MT was still standing. "Impossible", thought the raven. The sheer firepower he had launched would have cut through meters of class A battle armor. Worse of all, the MT was now pointing it's own rifle at him. Years of experience kicked in just about then. Instinctively, the raven slammed the controls for his AC's motor functions. Metal screeched harshly as if in pain. The sheer suddenness of the move tore strips of armor off Sinner, the once silver painted metal turning black with heat. Circuitry lay bare, the very sinew and veins of the AC exposed. The violent parting of armor from frame caused miniature flames to jet up from the joints, their blue orange flicker highlighting the burnt metal. However, all this mattered very little to the raven, as the maneuver had saved his life. The deadly fire that would have slammed directly into his AC's chest was avoided, though not entirely. Sinner's right arm crumpled like paper as the stream of machine gun fire tore it completely off the AC's frame. The continued stream of projectiles riddled the arm with multiple holes, making the dismembered limb jerk and dance in midair. The raven watched in almost religious fascination as the arm finally exploded, the stress becoming too much for the battered armor to handle. He could almost envision the other pilot's gloating smirk as he reloaded to deliver the finishing blow. For you see, with the mutilated limb had gone the rifle, the hand had still been clutching the grip tightly in it's final moments. "No, I won't let it end this way...I will not fail", the raven whispered as he stared at the shattered husk that had once been his rifle. Aware that he had precious little time left, the raven's hands danced over the controls. Within seconds the damaged components in the shredded remainder of the AC's right arm had been isolated. Diverting 95 percent of the reactor's power to thrusters, the raven calculated the time needed for him to reach the reloading and still vulnerable MT. Checking his calculations with Sinner's A.I., he came to the conclusion that it would take him approximately 43 seconds to reach the enemy. Those 43 seconds would seem like an eternity. Nevertheless, the raven was determined to see the mission through. This last desperate maneuver would either succeed or he and his AC would get blown to scrap. 

Sparing the MT a quick glance, he was satisfied that the pilot was still reloading. With a prayer to a god he no longer believed, he activated thrusters, jamming the accelerator all the way up to full burn. Within 5 seconds, warning klaxons blared and the cockpit was flooded with red light. Uttering a harsh curse, the raven muted the alarms and continued on his path. The MT finally noticed that he was now speeding toward him and with a crackle the com systems activated. "What the hell are you doing?", the MT pilot demanded almost fearfully. The raven didn't even bother to respond. 22 seconds away from his objective, the generator redlined, the indicator twitching dangerously. The raven ignored it and continued on his collision course with his target. Finally realizing the raven's suicidal purpose, the opposing pilot opened up with all the weapons still available to the MT. This amounted to quite a bit of firepower. Rockets, missiles, grenades, bullets and energy bolts streamed toward his battered AC. Gripping the directional joystick, he jammed it hard to the right, then just as quickly to the left. His AC pirouetted, spinning to avoid the hail of weapon fire. Only two rockets and a single energy bolt hit Sinner. However, this was sufficient enough to cause his shields to fail, one by one all his defenses flickered out, their indicators becoming dim on his main HUD. "Only 15 seconds to go", the raven muttered to himself. Realizing that he had just exhausted all of the MT's weapons, the other pilot initiated his own evasive actions, boosting away from the oncoming AC. It was too late however. With a grim smile, the raven watched the enemy image become larger and larger on his monitors. "3, 2, 1!", the raven slammed the controls hard to the right just as he reached the other mech. The last vestiges of armor tore off Sinner, revealing the gunmetal gray frame and the crisscrossed wires of the AC's "skeleton". Spinning around, now behind the startled MT, he emptied his remaining missiles point blank into the MT. The resulting explosion was both blinding and deafening. With the last of it's power, the A.I. opaqued the screen and muted the noise as to avoid the permanent damage of it's pilot. Lifting his head up, the raven ran a gloved hand through his sweat soaked hair. It was over. He had completed the mission.

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Author's comments: Well, what do you think? The fic might be a little rough, but that's because it's my first one. As I said before, I don't own anything. Please review, doesn't matter if it's flames or praise. I just need feedback! 


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